Two of a Kind
by redtippedquill
Summary: Cloaked figures enter the lives of our favorite YYH spirit team but are they friends or foes. Now the team will have to work on more personal quests. HieiXoc KuramaXoc KoenmaXoc and eventually YuskeXoc.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey this is CJ coming to you live with a wonderful story about our favorite YYH characters. The story will be intwined in the original YYH series (that i do NOT own) and hopefully wont alter any facts because i like the story as it is. With the exception of Keiko, I seriously don't think she and Yuske go together so I'm changeing that towards the end keeping her for as long as I can stand it. Anyway, on with the show!**

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_It is given knowledge to a child in the Maki that the power of a demon comes from one of the five elements that were created in the begining of time. There are the solid wielders of Earth, or those who can control plants, rock or metal, who are as dependable and strong as the ground they walk on. Then there are the rational guides of Sky, or those who summon wind, weather or lunar light, whose minds are often traveling with their element to gain wisdom beyond they're age. There are also the energized regulators of Water, or those who summon water, ice, or holy light, who have a strength of will to fight for peace and serenity, but long only to frolic in the waves of simplicity. Next we have the determined managers of Fire, or those that can control flame, solar light, or shadows, who's stubborn and goal-oriented minds make them natural protectors and powerful warriors. The last and most powerful of the elements is the power of Spirit, the ability of the mind over matter, and is said can be gained only when the individual has mastered the four other elements and thus they were known as elementals. _

_In a Legend, long forgotten because of pride and secrecy, the Maki and Nigenki where one, as well as humans and demons who were known simply as "the people". They were simple people to begin with but eventually grew in number, and confusion and disorganization began to break out among them. In order to establish understanding and order, the strongest of them, an elder elemental by the name of Kenmei Hikari, began a system of supervision to mediate and guide the people. A council of elder elementals was created with three representatives for each element and Kenmei as the High Elder. Believing that wisdom was a benefit to all, Kenmei also established temples for each of the elements where one could go to master that element and gain knowledge. With the four temples and council in place peace reined over the land for many, many years but nothing lasts forever and Kenmei, as one of the first, was growing old and frail. The Face of Mortality was becoming evermore clear to the people as their beloved leader became ill and a panic began to spread, Kenmei knew he had to give the people a replacement to depend on when he passed and fortunately he had a person in mind. His granddaughter Musume Hikari was born from two elementals and thus was born with remarkable powers and became an elemental at a very young age, but even so he kept her away from the council and she grew up in a peaceful village, in near secrecy and became a strong and pure hearted woman. _

_Having never seen or heard of this so called powerful granddaughter, the council was not comfortable with the idea of Musume as the High Elder, but one elder in particular objected the most. Koi Ganbuu was the youngest elder in council but also one of the more powerful and was growing more powerful everyday, his ambition was great and he had hoped to become the next High Elder, but agreed with the other elders to wait with any decision's of succession until Musume was brought before them. Kenmei knew that they would change their minds ounce they meet his Musume, for no one could resist her gentle aura and sweet smile, the High Elder also realized how beautiful his granddaughter was and her naivete regarding her own stunning beauty only added to her appeal. When she was presented before the council, they all behaved exactly as Kenmei had predicted, even the dark haired, dark eyed Koi was speechless when he came face to face with the beauty of Musume's pure white gold hair and black, gold speckled eyes. And so the world came to love and respect Musume so when the sad day of Kenmei's passing came, the people knew that although they were losing a great man, they were gaining a great women whose kind and strong leadership would lead to years of prosperity. But nothing lasts forever and a shadow was forming in the background that could destroy their peace and bring suffering to all._

Looking up at the crowd of young demons the storyteller smiled though the audience could not see through the cloak that disguised every feature making the storyteller seem a simple old man. "But we shall leave that for another day." He said with a twinkle in his voice. The crowd groaned and complained, the children wanted to know what would happen to the beautiful woman. Waving a hand for silence the storyteller silenced their complaints, "Now, now, the story of the Empress is a long one and not meant to be told in a single day. You must all show patience, then when the time comes the reward will be that much sweeter." Chuckling the storyteller sent the audience home and went about gathering his things to look for shelter for the night. Turning he was startled to find that one member of his audience had not left and was still sitting seeming bored on one of the logs that formed a circle outside the village, set especially for storytelling and gatherings. Taking a closer look at the demon he realized that it was not a child but a very short statured demon with spiked black hair and red eyes. He then realized that this demon was none other then Hiei the spirit detective.

Hiei stiffened and glared at him with narrowed eyes, "How do you know who I am?" he growled while standing ready to pull his katana.

"Easy, I know many things young fire demon, just like I know that you are here to escourt me to Lord Koenma's" stated the story teller," and I go willingly so there is no need for violence. Tell me did you at least enjoy the story?"

"Hn, why would I be interested in a child's tale? Children should be training for the real world not listening to silly senseless fairy tales." Said Hiei with emotionless face.

"Not true, young one, stories are told with the purpose to teach. Children learn lessons in life and about the mistakes of history. Stories show them how to think outside the box and about the world around them. You should listen more intently when next you encounter a story being told, it could influence your future." Said the storyteller with curious knowing in his voice.

Hiei lifted a brow and rolled his eyes, "Hn, lets just go I have better things to do then debate with you, old man." He said as he started down a path towards the spirit world palace.

Chuckling at the stubborn demon the storyteller waved his hand and summoned a portal, "I know a shorter way. Would you care to join me?"

Then he stepped through with a grin as he heard behind him the growl of an annoyed Hiei. But before Hiei could step through he felt something pierce his neck, knocking him down. Reaching to his neck he pulled out a dart empty of a blue liquid, quickly he stuffed the dart in his pocket for later inspection and shakely stood with his katana drawn ready to fight. Glancing around he saw nothing but shadows of the surrounding forest and then his sight began to blur and his body seemed to stiffen and slowly he fell to the ground shivering. His last thought was cursing the old storyteller, his weakness, and the laughter of a shadow that stepped out from behind a tree, and then all was black.

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"OGRE!" the shout echoed throughout the walls of the Reiki (or spirit world) palace. George jumped from his seat in the cafeteria and ran as fast as he could down the long hallway apologizing the entire way to fellow ogres as he knocked them over desks and into the laps of secretaries. Flying paper began to stick to his sweating forehead, finally reached the giant double doors; he slammed them open and rushed in. Tripping on himself the blue skinned ogre ran head long into the large desk in the middle of the giant office. Hastely he stood with his hands on his knees panting he glanced up at the brown haired toddler trying to be intimmidateing by standing on his oversized chair and both fists on the table.

"Koenma sir, what is it?" asked the panting ogre.

"It's about time George! I've got an important guest coming and I need the whole office organized. Then summon Botan for me, and where the heck is Hiei? Shouldn't he already be back from that mission I sent him on?" Koenma declared.

"Koenma sir, you just sent Hiei out this morning, should you be expecting him this soon?"

"ARE YOU QUESTIONING ME OGRE?"

"Of…of c-course not s-s-sir." George whimperd, in a slightly crouched position.

"HURRY UP AND FIND BOTAN, THEN CLEAN THIS PLACE UP!"

"Right away sir." George scurried out the door as fast as his legs could carry him, lest he should be yelled at again. Koenma sighed and went back to furiously stamping away as he waited for his orders to be carried out. Getting lost in his thoughts and tedious work he was unaware of the swirling white and blue portal that opened in the far corner of his office. A cloaked figure stepped out of the portal and to the side as if to make way for another but after a minute the figure shrugged and with a wave of a hand closed the portal. Turning towards the center of the office the figure realized that his presence was not yet known, smirking he silently made his way to the right side of the Koenma's desk where he was still stamping away with a determined look. Stopping at his side the cloaked stranger simply stood there for a minute as though considering the possibilities, when he was slightly startled along with the prince by the twin doors to the office bursting open. Stumbling into the office was George along with a blue haired girl dressed in a kimono, both stopped short of the desk and bowed slightly while catching there breath.

"Here she is sir, I found her."

"Very well ogre you may get to work on cleaning up the place and I want to be notified when our guest arrives."

"Very well sir I'll go notify the gu . . . " George had looked up and immediately noticed a cloaked stranger standing to the side and slightly behind his prince. The figure simply smiled and gave a short wave to the ogre who immediately understood that this was not threat but the guest that the prince was expecting. Sweat dropping slightly the ogre faced Koenma and stated slowly, "umm…. Sir… I believe he's already here Lord Koenma."

"WHAT! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME! WHERE IS HE AT?"

"I'm sorry Lord Koenma but I only just found out myself, and he's right there, sir." He stated slyly while pointing behind him. The blue haired girl looked up with wide eyes and tried to hide her giggle behind her hand as she watched Koenma stiffen with sweat raining down his face and turn very slowly to his right.

When he finally saw the cloaked figure he was frozen in shock, until not knowing what else to do the guest simply brought his pointer finger to his forehead as if to tip his hat and said with a slight laughter in his voice, "Lord Koenma I believe you were expecting me?" Those present in the room saw the young lords face pale noticeably and his jaw drop. The sound of his binky hitting the floor brought Koenma out of his shock and he regained his composure and color along with a tinge of red in his cheeks as he bent to retrieve his binky.

Clearing his throat he turned back to the stranger, "Yes, of course, I apologize for not noticing your presence sooner. If you could bare to wait a few moments longer while I address some present issues I will be right with you."

"Of course, your highness, there is no hurry, take what time you need, eternity is but a second away." Chuckled the stranger as he sat down on one of the two couches large couches surrounding the desk.

Turning once again to his assistant he began to address them with a certain resentment for their red faces from trying to hold in laughter. "Ogre you can return to your job, I will call when I am in need of you." He waited patiently as the ogre slipped out of the doors closing them behind him. Koenma turned to the blue haired girl standing before his desk with her usual smile and continued, "As for you Botan, I need you to do a check up on the Urameshi team for me. Yusuke is with master Genki at her temple, and Kurama is training Kuwabara in the forest bordering their town. I need to know their progress in their training, I'm going to have some specialist analize the information you gather to estimate their likelihood of survival and success at the Dark Tournament."

Seeming a bit disturbed with this mission Botan voiced her thoughts, "But Lord Koenma, even if the results turn out low, what difference would it make? The Taguro Brothers are forcing them to compete no matter what."

"That is true Botan but if the results are low then we will need to let them know to train harder, not to mention it will help let me know if I need to begin recruiting new spirit detectives."

"LORD KOENMA! THAT IS ABSOLUTELY HEARTLESS." She yelled with fists at her side at the now cowering prince. Crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him she continued, "You should show a little more faith in Yusuke and the others. Honestly."

"I have plenty of faith in my team Botan it's mearly a precaution." He stated while straightening his papers.

"Humph, very well sir but what about Hiei? Don't you want a report on him as well?"

"We gathered the needed information from him the other day before I sent him on the mission to recover our gu…" Koenma stopped and glanced around his office. Then looking confused he turned to the relaxed stranger on the couch as Botan watched on also confused. "Speaking of which, where is Hiei? Did he not return with you, sir?" Botan's eyes widened at the prince and then returned her gaze with even greater confusion but a new respect to the stranger that Lord Koenma, son of Enma, had just addressed with respect.

Chuckling slightly at the obvious confusion in the room, the guest answered, "There is no need for that Lord Koenma, I am after all a simple guest." Slightly bowing with a grin he continued, "As for Hiei he did not come out of the portal along with me so I am assuming two things. One he decided to run here instead of arriving by portal, which I highly doubt considering how suspicious he was of me, he most likely would have felt the need to make sure I arrived here. The second and most likely possibility is that he was kidnapped. I had known that he would be I just wasn't sure when it would happen and appears that it was to happen today." This the stranger finished calmly.

Silence was the only sound for minutes after he spoke then the eyes of Koenma and Botan widened as they let the information sink in. "WHAT! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US SOONER!" They both yelled.

"Botan forget what I just told you go retrieve the team for an emergency rescue mission, I'm sure they can take a break for a couple of days to hunt for a missing team mate. Tell Genki that there would be no way they could win without Hiei anyway. That should convince her. GO!"

Before Botan could dash out the door however they were both frozen by the soft yet commanding words that next came from the guest. "There is no need to interrupt their training and despite what you may think. They will need every minute of their available training time in order to win the day at the tournament."

Koenma was shocked first and then nodded while motioning Botan to return to him. Botan would not budge and simply stared at the two of them as though they were growing horns. "You can't be serious! How is Hiei being kidnapped not an important need? You said yourself sir that the team needs Hiei. WE CAN'T JUST DESERT HIM!" she shouted in near tears.

"Calm down, I'm sure we are not deserting him. I trust our guest and if he says that we do not need to rescue Hiei then I believe him." Though he glanced skeptically at the figure on the couch as though asking silently to explain.

"With all due respect, Lord Koenma, how on earth would this man know whether Hiei needs to be rescued or not?"

Koenma sighed and the stranger chuckled then turning his upper body to face Botan the stranger replied in a calming voice, "Lord Koenma trusts me because he knows that I am an Oracle of sorts." Botan gasped and glanced at the prince who nodded in conformation. Her eyes widened then looking at the figure in a seeming new light opened her mouth to apologize, but was halted by him holding up his hand, "There is no need to apologize Botan, you had no way of knowing who I was. To put your mind at ease I will explain a bit on the matter of Hiei's kidnapping. I cannot tell you all of course because that's against the rules and could ruin everything, but what I will tell you is that Hiei will return in three weeks time and he will return unscathed."

Botan sighed in relief and nodded to the Oracle in understanding and thanks then headed for the door to gather statistics on the rest of the team. "Just a moment Botan, sir is it not against the rules for you to have told us all this?"

"Not if I was ment to hinder your search for Hiei in the first place, my prince. I to have purposes to fulfill in the passage of time." The hooded man answered with a smile.

"I see, well in that case, Botan you may go about your job but you must not speak of what you've learned of Hiei and of the Oracle to anyone, understood?" Nodding and then bowing to the two authority figures she backed to the door and then left, softly closing the door behind her. "I suppose that you know already the nature of my summoning you here then?"

"Of course, however I do not need to be here just yet."

"I am offering for your own protection and I could use some guidance, Oracle"

"Do not worry young prince, there is no threat to me just yet, you and Botan are the only ones who know I have awakened and as for my guidance, you are not in need of it just yet, but when that, not so far away, day comes, I can assure you that I will return." Standing up from the couch the guest of honor motioned with his hand and again the portal appeared, turned to wave goodbye and stepped through.

Left once again alone with his papers and stamp Koenma sighed and laid back in his oversized chair, thinking back over the day's accurances. Then, suddenly, a thought struck him, turning a unimaginable red he realized that while he had one of the most important figures in the worlds there in his office . . . he had remained in his toddler form.

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Deep in the wilds of the Maki in the basement of a dilapidated bar, Hiei panted in pain as he returned from the peaceful darkness that had taken him over. Trying to ignore his pain he blinked his eyes open only to find them foggy and unable to focus. His whole body felt frozen stiff and moving or even twitching a muscle anywhere on his body brought blood-boiling pain. He felt as if his body was in an ice cube in hell, hot and cold at the same time. His immune system not knowing what to do left him with fever, nausea and chills that only increased his pain with each shake. Hiei couldn't remember being this miserable since he had his jagen implanted. Deciding to just lay still and think over his options, Hiei heard the door at the top of the stairs open and two pairs of feet stomp down. When he opened his eyes all he could make out were two blurry shapes and a long shadow coming his way. Hiei groaned in anger and pain when the foot connected with his stomach and he tried his best to glare at the two figures.

"Well it seems the little ice bastard is awake. Are you comfortable sir? Hahahahaha!" laughed the shadow that had kicked him.

"You sure he can't do anything? This little guy is supposed to be really powerful." The second shadow said uneasily.

"The poison we shot in his system was made especially by the doctor for this guy. It will keep him inept until the doctor can fix him to work for us like he did to those humans. He's not going anywhere." Grinned the first again.

"So what do we do with him until then?"

"Doc said we could have a bit of fun as long as he's not seriously injured to the point he can't work for us. In other words little man? You're going to help us train as our new punching bag." The two shadows advanced towards him grinning evilly while their eyes shone with an evil light.

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**Hope you liked it. Review if you did. The next Chapter should be soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter 2. Again let me know how im doing. **

**I own NOTHING (except my oc's)**

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It's been a week and Hiei still lies on the same cold damp floor but he has new cuts and bruises cover his entire body. The pain and fogginess still control him but even if the poison wore off he couldn't move well with a broken arm and leg and two fractured ribs. Still he tried everything in he could to escape, he even tried after a few days to contact his teammates but it seemed the poison affected his jagen as well. All he could do was lay there and try to heal, he would wait patiently for his time to escape and when he did he was sure to make the bastard demons pay. Thinking of all the ways he could repay his captors 'kindness' he drifted slowly to sleep. Awaken not two hours later by a noise much different then usual coming from the bar above, silence; it was the absence of the usual sounds of brawling, belching and bellowing. Hiei put his senses on high alert trying hard to determine what the cause was until he heard the door slowly open as though hesitant about what lay behind it. Still Hiei remained still not knowing if this was friend or foe, he heard a soft breezy sound and unable to tell what it was kept silent and listened with all his might. The sound repeated itself over again and after the fourth time he realized that this was the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and briefly marveled at the holder's stealth. Quickly shakeing his head and scowling at himself for not focusing he realized that the footsteps stopped at the bottom of the steps and he heard nothing further. Trying to open his eyes he still could only see blurs but he did see the bright light from the above stairs and it carved out a figure that as he suspected was not far from him but was not moving. He listened intently trying to decipher the intentions of the stranger wondering if this was the infamous doctor that he kept hearing of. This thought made him nervous and he glared at the blurry figure in an attempt to move him into action. The figure just stood there but then sighed so softly that ordinarily one would not have heard it but in the stillness of the small room it sounded like wind chimes blowing in a soft breeze. This startled Hiei, quickly covering up that fact with an emotionless face, though now he tried his best to ajust his eyes to see better but the damn blurriness would not let up but then the stranger spoke.

"I'm not usually one for rescuing demons but I heard from those buffoons up there that you are a spirit detective working for Koenma." Hiei was again startled, the voice was muffled but it most definitely belonged to that of a women. "Not only that, but they also said that you are Hiei Jaganshi the wielder of the jagen. Tell me, is this true demon?" Hiei did not answer. The onna didn't need to know and he was unwilling to experience pain just to tell her. "Will you or can you not speak?" Again she was met by silence. "Then the information about a special poison made just for Hiei that ensures he will not move a muscle is true? Or is it you are to stubborn or perhaps to weak to bare the pain for one answer?"

"Hn" Hiei winced as a splinter of pain coarsed through him, then when it subsided he heard a soft chuckling and immediately glared at the women.

"Yes, you are most definitely Hiei. Your stories of stubbernness and pride precede your stories of power. I apologize for the pain but it was nessesary to ensure this was not a trap. I can offer my help, I believe we can rid you of this poison but we will have to relocate you, which will be painful. It is your choice and I will respect it." Hiei's glare softened as he considered the words the women had spoke to him, what other option did he have but he did respect that she had given him the choice and decided to accept her offer though knowing that it could be a trap.

"Hn" he said as softly as possible but still frowning at the pain.

"Very well Jaganshi, I will place you on my back. It will take a day and a half to reach our destination and there will be one other along with us. She is my partner and I give my word that nether of us will do anything but assist you." Pausing as though considering something, "This will be painful and if you wish I can put you out until we reach our destination." Hiei glared at her in obvious defiance at the thought that he could not handle a little pain. Leaning closer to him she sighed and felt his forehead testing for fever. Hiei closed his eyes at the brief relief of his fever by the soft and cool hand on his brow, opening them when it was removed he heard her sigh musically as though in part humer and part sadness, very odd. "Very well it is your choice, however just so that you understand that fever is bad and with the added pain you will be receiving while I run, I'm almost certain that you will pass out, but no worry I won't hold it against you. You forget that the poison injected in you was designed especially for you to feel intense pain and I doubt that anyone but you could handle it." This woman now most sincerely puzzled Hiei. What did she mean by saying those words? "Well let's begin before those bakas above awake from the sleeping powder we spread." Suddenly the odd woman stood and whistled loudly making Hiei wince, then he heard the sound of louder footsteps as they descended the stairs. He was instantly suspicious until he remembered the onna mentioning a partner. When the partner reached the bottom she stood there with a silent question. "It's Jaganshi, I need your help putting him on my back. The idiots weren't joking when they said any slight movement causes him pain. I'll pick him up and you strap him to me as tightly as possible." The other onna nodded but Hiei mentally tinged pink. "Alright here we go." Hiei braced himself but then he felt himself being lifted by what seemed to be the air itself and straightened up still in the position he laid on the ground in, then floated to the back of the odd woman nearly touching. "Alright Jaganshi brace yourself." Vines seeming appeared of no where wrapped around his waist, arms, legs and neck and with a quick and painful pull strapped him tightly her with legs around her waist, arms around her shoulders and his head over her right shoulder. Hiei sucked in air and slammed his eyes shut tightly as the pain seared through him but he managed with all his might to not yell.

"Ouch, that really looked painful, you weren't kidding. I'd hate to be this guys shoes." Winced the onna's partner.

"Indeed, but the fun is just starting." Making their way up the stairs and through the bar to the outside, once there the mystery women began a sprint that would rival Hiei in speed. After five minutes they stopped at a clearing with a small stream and observed their passenger for she could feel his painful pants on her neck and shivered slightly as his breath brushed against her skin. Hiei was gritting his teeth and beads of sweat poured from him as he tried to ignore the searing pain that raced through his veins. To him it seemed more like days that they had traveled, as a spike of pain measured each second. The women bent down and Hiei heard the sound of clothing being ripped, then he felt something cool whip across his forehead opening his eyes slightly he saw that the women's partner was holding a damp cloth and dabbing his forehead. "Do you wish to reconsider my offer of putting you out until we get there?" He could feel the onna's cool breath against his cheek as she asked him. Closing his eyes he thought on her words about how only he could handle that pain and he heard no mocking in her voice then or now. Opening his eyes only slightly he breathed out a slightly audible 'hn' and before he could blink he felt a brief pressure on his neck and then nothing.

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Drifting in the comforting darkness Hiei thought and felt nothing, he was at peace with no worries or battles or missions. He was content to stay here forever although he knew that was not an option. Still he remained as long as he could until he began to hear a soft sound, wanting to hear better Hiei came from the darkness only to find himself in a room just as dark. He tensed until he remembered being helped by the two onna's, looking around he saw he was in a bed in a small cottage. Looking to his right he saw another bed against the opposite wall and between them was a nightstand and to the front of the cabin was a small kitchen with a breakfast table and two chairs. There were windows over each bed and in the kitchen, all covered with black curtains to block out the light of the moon that he could barely see shining through. Hiei laid there for a minute and then heard the sound that had awoken him. This time he could make is out as a flute that played a soft haunting melody not far away. Hiei made to sit up and grunted at how sore his body was; at least he was in no pain. Swinging his legs off the side of the bed he shakely stood up only to flop back down when his shaking legs couldn't hold the weight suddenly placed on them. Hiei growled in annoyance as he looked to the ceiling and crossed his arms. Suddenly hearing a chuckle he tensed and swung his head towards the sound. There sitting in the window in the kitchen was a cloaked figure holding a flute shining with the light from the moon outside. Hiei relaxed slightly and narrowed his eyes at the figure he assumed to be that same onna that carried him.

"Hn"

"You've only been sleeping for about three days. Your body still has to heal from the poison and only rest and nourishment can do that. I can help you with the latter but its up to your patience for the former." The onna said softly while smiling. Now that the fogginess from his eyes has left he make out more details about his rescuer and discovered that he was correct in his assumption of the figure being female. The dark cloak she wore covered everything but her smooth white hands and smiling mouth, it was a dark brown and although large, sitting as she was against the window frame, he could tell she had a small slim figure. Hiei smirked a bit when he realized that she may even be smaller than him but then blinked when he heard another soft growl. Hiei tinged pink when he realized that it was his stomach, protesting the many days with no food, which had made the noise. Chuckling the onna hopped of the windowsill and walked around the kitchen gathering bread, meat and a plate. Hiei watched as she placed them on the small table and looked up at him expectedly, then walked back to the stove and began cooking something that's smell made his stomach growl louder, Hiei glared at the onna who was laughing softly by the stove and again tried to stand. This time although still shaking Hiei managed to stay up and gradually began his wobbly trek to the kitchen. Nearly there he stumbled expecting to fall flat on his face only to find a chair conveinently there to steady himself with. Hiei glanced up suspiciously not remembering the chair being that close only to see the onna still at the stove stirring. Scooting the chair forward, he sat down and immediately began shoveling the bread and meat down his throat, when a hand came out of no where stopping Hiei from his meal. Growling and snapping up, he saw the onna there with one hand on his arm and one holding a glass of clear liquid.

"You haven't eaten anything in nearly a week. If you continue to gorge like a pig you'll end up throwing it all back up." Hiei snorted and began eating again at a slower pace. "Here drink this in between bites. Its just water it'll help with digestion and getting rid of the soreness." She chuckled as he eyed it suspiciously. Returning back to the stove she continued stirring the contents in the pot and a few minutes later Hiei finished the bread and meat.

"Onna. I'm still hungry." Hiei stated with a slight pout and arms crossed. Turning her head she looked at him and he saw her frown at him, then reaching into a nearby shelf pulled out a large bowl and began filling it with the delicious smelling substance that had Hiei nearly drooling. The onna walked back to him with the bowl in hand, but as he reached for it she drew it back and held it out of his reach.

"What are you doing onna?" Hiei growled.

"Say thank you." She answered simply.

"What?"

"Say thank you." Hiei growled and glared as hard as he could at her, trying to make her give in and just hand the bowl to him, but she wasn't budging. Then he attempted to just take it but ended up falling on the floor with a splat when she still held it from his reach. Growling again he sat back up on the chair and crossed his arms in an act of defiance. "Saying two words is not a difficult thing." But still not saying anything Hiei sat there stubbornly until his stomach growled in annoyance at his rejection of the wonderful smelling food and he once again tinged pink.

"Fine." He sighed. "thankyou" he muttered. The woman smirked, nodded and placed the bowl of what he discovered to be a noodle soup in front of him. Then she sat down in the second chair across from him and watched the moon through the window.

After Hiei finished he exhaled and leaned back in the chair satisfied then stared at the figure across from him trying to distinguish any other features that he hadn't seen before. Then it acured to him that he had no idea who the onna was.

"Who are you ?" he asked

Startled at the sudden abruptness of the question she turned to face him. She was silent for a moment before sighing and turning back to the window.

"I can't answer that. I'm sorry?"

"Why?" he questioned a bit harshly.

"For my own protection, as well as yours."

Hiei stiffened a bit and narrowed his eyes. "Have we met before?"

"No."

Relaxing again slightly he realized he would get no further personal information about her. Once again in silence Hiei began to think back on what had just acured, kidnapping, being rescued, cured. Hiei raised an eyebrow wondering how the onna's had cured him when the poison was specially made.

"How did you cure me?" he decided to ask.

The onna glanced at him, then turned and rested her head in her hands and elbows on the table.

"Well at first we weren't sure where to begin but then we found a dart with liquid matching the poison on you and my partner analyzed it to create an antidote. The problem was that your immune system was so wack, that it was attacking anything that wasn't part of the original you, even the antidote. So in order to give it a boost we added our blood to the concoction and it held them off so the antidote could do its job." Hiei wasn't quite sure how to take that information and yawned as the food caught up with him. "Go to bed. You can ask more questions when you awake." She chuckled. To tired to argue Hiei staggered back to the bed he awoke in and collapsed into it. The warmth and comfort soon began to draw him in and his eyes began to close. Just before the familiar darkness enveloped him, he realized that the in order to have found the dart they had to dig in his pants pockets. Glancing sleepily down he noticed that he was indeed in a totally different outfit then what he had been wearing. Hiei blushed when he realized that one of the women had to have changed him, but that was his last thought as he fell into a dreamless sleep.

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Deep in the forest of a neighboring world the echoing sound of clashing fists and weapons could be heard along with grunts, pants and occasional shouts of instruction. What few passerby's heard this simply assumed it was a fight and didn't wish to get involved so they went on their merry way, but one stranger let their curiosity get the better of them and silently made their way through the forest in the direction of the sounds. The sounds quit just as the sun was setting but the stranger was close enough to smell a fire burning in the same direction and continued on this time following his nose until he came to a point that he could hear the low talking of what sounded like two men. Not wanting to be spotted he hopped into a nearby tree and slunk closer using the limbs as his pathway. Soon he could make out the words spoken by the two men.

"… and after that we can work on your spirit awareness until the tournament. You really have improved Kuwabara." This man's voice set the stranger on an edge. Sure it was smooth and charming but underneath it was sly and had a deadly calm but still the stranger approached but with more stealth.

" uunnnhhhh… I don't feel like doing any of that right now. I just want to eat and sleep. Is the food almost done Kurama?" Almost falling out of the tree the stranger couldn't believe how annoyingly stupid the other man sounded. What the heck were they doing out here together? You don't think….ewww naww... no way lets just kick that from mind. Finally the stranger saw the light and smoke from the fire and leaped to one last branch before arriving at the edge of a small clearing. Chuckling drew the strangers gaze immediately to a tall boy with long red hair whose back was too him.

"It's finished Kuwabara. Hand me your bowl."

"Yesss!" The stranger's gaze was then drawn to the most astonishingly horrifying sight of the orange haired human named Kuwabara. He watched slightly disgusted as the human began scarfing the bowl of food down like a starving dog, then suddenly Kuwabara finished eating belched and seemingly past out on the sleeping mat he'd been sitting on, snoring. The stranger sweat dropped and thought, scratch that the dog has more manners. Glancing back at the second man, he assumed was Kurama, he was lying on his mat in with hands behind his head, looking at the stars with a thoughtful expression that seemed vaguely familiar to the stranger. Dismissing the thought the stranger continued studying Kurama, he seemed an average human, well not average for he looked better then most he'd seen, but still the stranger could sense there was something demonic about him. The stranger continued he thoughts of the two men and why they were here, when he noticed Kurama seemingly drop of to sleep, the stranger waited a few more minutes then hopped from the shadowy limb to the floor with naught but a small breeze to give any indication of the action. Making his way silently to Kuwabara, the stranger squatted by his snoring figure and proceeded to study him, then reaching out with one finger as though to touch his forehead only to suddenly flip back to avoid the sting of a whip.

Looking up the stranger and realized that it was Kurama who had attacked with a green thorny whip and an angry look on his face. He was also fascinated to find Kurama's green eyes glowing with a fierce and calculating determination to protect the human. The stranger was completely puzzled by this.

"So protective of him? Must be the human in you." He stated as though coming to a conclusion in his thoughts out loud.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Kurama said with narrowed eyes.

The stranger stood in a relaxed stance, with hands behind his back and shrugged, "Wondering why you're training this human?"

"Why is it any concern of yours demon?" Kurama asked with his usual informative voice but inside his head he was confused to no end. Who was this stranger that stood so relaxed and nonchalant as if posing no threat? The stranger wore a dark cloak that hid everything but his hands and mouth, but he was certain it was a demon, for no human could have gotten so close, nor could they hide every sense of themselves. That was what this stranger was doing for Kurama could not sense spirit, demonic or any kind of energy for that matter. He couldn't even smell him. Kurama had his full concentration on the demon (he assumed) before him.

The stranger gave a smile bordering on smirk and replied in that nonchalant tone of his. "Its not every day you see a demon, even one in a human shell, train a human, willingly that is." Glancing down once again at the still sleeping Kuwabara he frowned a bit. "Doesn't seem fair"

Kurama was now completely bewildered and straightened slightly with a stunned look on his face. What was this demon talking about and how did he know that Kurama being Yoko Kurama in a 'human shell'.

"Not Fair?"

"Yea, your training challenges him, but nothing challenges you. So he's the only one improving."

Straightening out fully and placing his left hand in his pants pocket, Kurama couldn't help but tug the corner of his mouth up at the odd demon that came to this conclusion. Though not completely at ease Kurama felt as though the demon really didn't mean any harm and was just a curious youngling that had somehow found a portal here. "What led you to believe that I need improvement?" he asked.

Shrugging once again the demon replied, "I assumed. Everyone wants to improve." Then, as though in an afterthought, the demon slowly began to grin mischievously and continued. "When was it exactly that you realized I was here, huh?"

Kurama's eyes widened and his cheeks flushed as he coughed to hide his embarrassment. The strange demon giggled at first but that soon turned into a full-throated laugh. Wait, . . . giggled? Kurama snapped his head up to see the demon clutching her sides, with her head thrown back as the velvety sound of her laughter continued to fill the quiet forest. WAIT, . . . HER? Indeed, in her fit of laughter, the demon failed to notice that strands of her hair fell from inside her cloak to reflect a pale blue in the firelight . Kurama couldn't understand how he had missed the obvious signs of femininity that now seemed to smack him in the face, her delicately defined chin and full lips with skin like a pearl, along with her dainty slender hands. Kurama had to struggle not to slap him self, even her voice had that silkiness that only a woman could possibly posses. The Yoko in him noticed every detail now and even with the thick dark cloak he could tell that beneath it was a women of vast beauty. Again Kurama had to struggle with himself not to run over and tear the cloak from the demon to confirm his suspicions. Suddenly the soothing sound of her laughter stopped and he looked up to see her back in her original stance with a small smile on her lips.

"Sorry, couldn't resist." She sighed.

"I see. What exactly is your intention?" Kurama smiled and continued. "Do you mean to give me that challenge?" Kurama was inwardly banging his head. Why on earth did he say that, he blamed his yoko.

The demoness was slightly startled by this question and raised her finger to her mouth as she glanced up in thought. "Actually, hadn't thought of that." Then removing her hand and looking at Kurama with a smile she continued. "Sure, I can help you out, wouldn't mind a friendly tussel."

Kurama grinned with a barely contained excitement that he hadn't felt in quite along time. He wasn't sure if it was because he wanted to fight, for she had to have some skill to sneak up like she did, or because the 'friendly tussel' would give him more time to figure her out, or perhaps something else.

"In order for this to be a friendly tussel, perhaps I should know the name of my friendly partner?" he questioned. Kurama was soon disappointed however when he saw a frown grace her lips, but as soon as it came, the frown returned to a friendly smile.

"You can call me anything you want, Kurama." Then before he could question her further she took off running past him and into the forest at a speed that she knew he could follow so as not to lose him. Kurama was bewildered at what had just moments taken place but soon shook it off and with a grin ran off after her. They ran until they came to a meadow filled with tall grass and daisies, she ran to the middle and stopped with her hands behind her, waiting for Kurama to arrive. She didn't have to wait long until he burst through the trees and ran towards her, but before he could stop she ran at him. Leaping forward with her fist ready to strike, Kurama skid to a stop with his arms in an x to block her. He was surprised to find that her punch was hard and sent him skidding back a ways, putting down his arms with a smile, he found her standing where she had hit him with a calm yet playful smile. Grinning Kurama realized that this would be an exhilarating night, with an unspoken agreement to not use powers, he replaced his rose and charged at her with his fists to begin their 'friendly tussel'.

Much Later that night, about an hour before dawn, two figures could be seen in a dirt and crater filled meadow. Both were panting hard with fists raised, cuts, scrapes and blood was evident on both but more so on the male. Halfway through the night they had decided to add weapons, Kurama holding his rose whip while the other demon held a staff that at the end held a green gem surrounded by a wave like bridging. Even though they both stood in a combat stance with blood pouring from their wounds, a smile could be seen on each of there faces. Kurama's cloths were in shreds and dirt and sticks littered his hair. Her cloak had rips and tears in some of the bottom but try as he might Kurama could never tear off her hood. He had learned more of her personality and found her to be utterly charming and fascinating but never once did he find out information about who she was or where she came from. The demon on the other hand was having the time of her life playing with him, she knew he was extremely curious about her but she simply couldn't offer him that information, she was surprised at how quickly she warmed up to him, with him there were no pretences like the others. The stillness that had settled as they collected their thoughts was suddenly interrupted the chirping of birds awaking and awaiting the coming morning. Startled from their thoughts the two looked up at the sky as it slowly began to brighten and then back at each other where they grinned and broke into laughter then plopped down on the ground from exhaustion.

"Let's call it a night. You still have to train that brainless human today." She said as the laughter died down.

"I'll let him sleep in this morning." Kurama said after chuckling at her 'brainless human' comment.

Reaching into a pocket inside her cloak the demon pulled out two rolls of bandages and tossed one to Kurama who thanked her and they both began wrapping their wounds, none serious.

"Why exactly are you training him, Kurama? If you don't mind me asking, I heard you say something about a tournament." She questioned.

Kurama paused in his wrapping and frowned wondering if he should tell her or not, then deciding to trust her he continued. "Kuwabara and I, along with two others, have been requested to attend the Dark Tournament." He looked up to see her reaction and found her simply wrapping her wounds with her usual smile.

"The Dark Tournament huh?" Then she stopped and chuckled. "You want to take that oaf to the Dark Tournament? I wish you the best of luck."

Kurama was slightly relieved that she was not a demon planning to fight there, would she be attending at all? He wondered with a frown.

"I attended a tournament a while back and it was more blood and guts then actual skill, but I heard there was going to be some very powerful teams this time and with you going maybe I'll go watch." She stated.

Kurama couldn't help but smile at the thought of a friend routing for him in the stands at the tournament or maybe it was simply because she would be there. He shook his head to rid that thought when he looked up to see her pulling her arms inside her cloak and ducking her head.

"I have something I can give you that might help." she said slyly. Kurama watched in curious wonderment thinking maybe she was removing her cloak, but instead he saw a light blue top to a fighting kimono fall to the ground. Kurama turned bright red thinking she may be undressing and wondering what exactly she had in mind, when he heard something heavy fall behind her, the shirt disappearing, and her head and arms stick back through her cloak. Slightly embarrassed and disappointed he watched as she turned around and picked up a seeming heavy long vest, that would simply slip over ones head, and stood walking over towards him. Kurama stood with a confused expression as he examined the vest getting closer, it was thin and could fit under cloths, explaining the shirt.

"Here. It's a weighted vest, you can wear it for training. This will even make working with the buffoon a challenge." She laughed while handing him the vest. Kurama looked up from his observations, startled to find her standing very close to him, but then a soft barely detectable scent teased his nose. Sniffing in he realized that it was her scent and that it was slightly familiar, blinking his eyes and sniffing again, he placed the soft sweet scent, lilies. Opening his eyes, he flushed realizing that he'd been standing there sniffing at her, but was brought back when a sudden heavy weight was placed in his arms. Not expecting it he teetered forward and trying to regain his balance began to fall back. The demon grabbed his shoulders trying to steady him but being lighter then him she simply fell with him. Hitting the ground with a thud and oaf Kurama groaned and opened his eyes to darkness, he panicked for a minute wondering if he'd fainted, until he heard a soft groan in his ear and as all his senses returned, he reddened as he realized that she had fallen on top of him. He could feel her chest on his and her breath on his ear and then inhaling, his nose was filled with her sweet lily sent. Kurama realized that the hood of her cloak must be covering him but made no move to do anything, instead he closed his eyes and let his senses run wild. The demoness however still couldn't get over the idea that she had lost her balance and to top it all off had fallen on top of a muscular man smelling of roses. Wait … roses? Muscular? Deciding to just get up and off of him, she shifted to position her hands on either side of his head, then she shivered hearing him suck in a breath right next to her ear. Then she realized that he was injured and her weight was probably not helping she quickly hoisted herself backwards and onto her rear end facing him with concern. Kurama opened his eyes, blinking at the loss of her he had to struggle once again to keep his yoko part down, then sat up on his elbows to find her looking at him with a frown of concern.

"I'm sorry. My weight probably didn't help your injuries any." Looking confused Kurama looked down to realize that he'd forgotten all about his injuries and put his hand behind his head in embarrassment.

"There's no need to apologize there just scratches and don't hurt very much." Kurama said and smiled when he heard her sigh of relief.

"Well then, I'll be sure to tell you when I place something heavy in your hands, from now on, huh?" she stated with a smirk. Then began laughing again when she saw Kurama flushing in embarrassment. Standing up and dusting himself off, Kurama bent and offered a hand to help her stand up. Still laughing she accepted it and bounced up, taking a few steps back she began dusting herself off as her laugher died. Kurama stood observing her, what a unique women, in one night she had managed to make him flush twice. Never in all his years as demon or human could he remember feeling this at ease and comfortable with someone, not even Koronue.

"Well I best be going. Thanks for all the fun. It was exactly what I needed." Kurama jerked his head towards her in disbelief.

"What? You're leaving?"

"Yea, I can't stay too long in the human world, I am technically breaking the rules." She stated with a smile.

Kurama was instantly saddened, he didn't know what he expected, but it wasn't this. Then a thought came to him.

"If you wish to stay, I could speak with Lord Koenma, I'm sure he would allow you to stay as a possible trainer." He suggested with a smile.

"Lord Koenma? Oh yea, Enma's kid. No that's okay I wasn't intending on staying but a day or two anywayz. Umm, but if your in good with Koenma, are you going to mention me?" she asked with hesitation.

"Not if you haven't done any harm during your stay here." He stated in a slightly depressed tone.

"Nope, you're the only one that I've had contact with. Don't be sad I can't train with you Kurama, that's why I gave you the vest, believe me it'll help."

"Yes, of course. Thank you Lilly." He said smiling to hide his disappointment

"What?" she asked startled at what he had addressed her as.

"Oh, you told me I could call you anything I wanted, well I decided to call you Lilly." Kurama stated, grinning at her astonishment.

"Lilly huh? My favorite flower, I like it." She said. Then giving him a smile that made his stomach flutter she turned and jogged to the edge of the forest. Turning back to him she waved and shouted, "Bye, Kurama!" then disappeared .

"Goodbye Lilly." He whispered back, picked up the heavy vest and turned in the opposite direction and began walking back to the camp and an ever-sleeping oblivious Kuwabara. About halfway back Kurama stopped in his tracks when he realized two things. One the vest was under her shirt and touching her skin, at this he blushed, and two the whole time they had faught she had it on. Just how powerful was she?

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**Review's people. Let me know if you like it or not.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry that this comes out so late but I don't get that many readers on this site. sigh Oh well, what can I do... how about beg those who do read to actually rate! Thanks!**

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There it was again, that soft haunting sound of a flute. Hiei flickered his eyes open to the soft light of the morning sun creeping through the dark curtains. Sitting up to rub his eyes of sleep Hiei glanced around the small cottage to see he was alone and that the music was coming from outside. In the kitchen he could make out some food on the small table and swung his feet off the side of the bed to head towards it when he noticed his own cloths and sword lying on the end of the bed. Picking them up he saw his cloths free of blood and tears he changed quickly and tied his sword to his waist, standing up he found no soreness and then went to the kitchen and sat down at the table to find it filled with fruits, bread and a tall glass of milk. He ate quickly and drank the milk, when he was finished he paused and listened again to the soothing sound trying to discern what direction it was coming from. Standing up he went to the door and opened it to be nearly blinded by the sun's light. Hiei walked out with his arm up to his face blocking the light from hitting his eyes, as they adjusted to the brightness he slowly lowered his arm and looked at his surroundings in astonishment. He was standing in the middle of a valley about ten miles in every direction and surrounded by peaked hills and cliffs, to the north about 50 yards from him, was a waterfall that fell from the cliff into a small lake and a small stream ran from it trickling into the forest the encircled the lake and cottage. Everything was lush and green and full of life, in short, gorgeous. 

Hiei stood there for a while taking everything in, until he heard a soft growl come from the dense forest behind him. He quickly crouched down with his hands on his katana and watched the forest edge for any sign of an enemy. The growl was louder this time and Hiei could see dark eyes and a shadowy shape heading his way, when they finally emerged from the forest Hiei was surprised to come face to face with a grown, growling timber wolf. Hiei couldn't understand what this ningenkai creature was doing in demon world but drew his sword nonetheless. The wolf edged closer and closer growling and raising his shackles in an attempt to intimidate his opponent but Hiei just stared at him emotionlessly. The wolf crouched lower and began to spring an attack at Hiei, but was suddenly halted when a voice called out from within the forest that it had just emerged from.

"Kage! Heel!"

Both turned towards the voice to find a cloaked figure, the onna, emerging from the forest. The wolf turned its head once more towards Hiei with a snort and a bark, then ran happily towards his cloaked mistress hoping for some petting. Hiei glared at the wolf while he was rolling in the grass getting his belly pet, the cloaked onna looked up at Hiei while petting Kage.

"I'm sorry for his behavior, he didn't know that you are a guest here. He protects this valley and thought that you were here to cause harm."

"Hn." Hiei stated still glaring with crossed arms.

"It's good to see your finally awake. I imagine you must feel very well rested after sleeping for nine days." She said with a smile.

Hiei's eyes widened . Nine days! How could he have slept for nine days?

"Why so surprised? Your body was in great need of rest." The onna commented with a chuckle.

Hiei narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.

"Did you give me a sleeping draft, onna?" he asked threateningly.

Frowning she replied, "No. You obviously didn't need it. So why would I give it to you?"

Feeling his mistress change in temper, Kage stood up and tried to cheer her up by licking her face. Startled by this abrupt onslaught of a wet tongue, the onna fell to the ground with the wolf on top licking her feverishly. She began laughing and thrashing about trying to evade Kage's attacks. Hiei frowned at the stupid wolf's interuption and walked over to try and get her attention again. He stopped about six feet away, unbeknownst to her, the hood of her cloak had slipped back and Hiei could now see her more clearly. Her face was delicate with high cheekbones and skin pale as the moon, he couldn't see her eyes, but a lock of shining lavender hair caught his attention.

Hiei was snapped from his scrutinizing by Kage growling at his nearness. Hiei glared at the wolf then bent down to his eye level and began growling back.

"What are the two of you trying to accomplish?" the onna asked shaking her head, but she got no response. The two males continued to eye each other and growl. Hiei began to narrow his eyes in annoyance when suddenly Kage stopped growling, cocked his head to the side and sat on his haunches, all the while staring at Hiei. Hiei straightened and put his hands in his pockets, then with an emotionless face turned to their female observer as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The onna looked at him in wonderment then looked at Kage.

"What was that?"

Hiei cocked an eyebrow for she had not addressed him, but Kage with that question.

"What do you mean approval?"

Hiei looked back and forth between the two. Was she talking to the wolf?

"KAGE! That's not why he's here and even if he was, WHO asked YOU!"

Hiei narrowed his eyes and quickly entered her mind, only to hear an odd husky voice speak as though from a distance.

_You are my mistress after all, I think I should have a say, considering I would have to obey your mate as well._

Hiei left just as quickly as he entered, flushing slightly. Mate? What was that stupid wolf talking about, in fact how was that stupid wolf talking in the first place?

"Why are you talking to him, Onna!" he demanded. Startled from her conversation, she realized how stupid she must look.

"Oh, my apologizes Hiei. I know this must look odd but I'm not crazy. You see Kage is a guardian animal, not actually a wolf, it's just the form he prefers."

Hiei was not entirely sure what a guardian animal was, but before he could ask Kage took off into the forest, he looked up at her quizzingly.

"He has other duties he must attend too. You will most likely not see him again." She said with a shrug and then began walking towards the cottage with Hiei in tow.

"How is it that I slept for nine days, onna?" he asked again.

"Are you still on about that?" she sighed, "I told you, you needed the rest. I gave you nothing that would induce you to sleep for so long."

Hiei crossed his arms and sulked, he just couldn't believe that he had slept that long by himself. He was not so weak as to need all that. When they reached the door of the cottage she turned around and raised a finger at him then the ground.

"Wait here. I need to change. Don't you dare come in for any reason." Then she entered the cottage and closed the door. Hiei glared at the door, how dare that onna tell him what to do. Then a thought came to him and he smirked evilly.

Walking quickly and silently Hiei went to the sidewall of the cottage that had the kitchen window and crouched just below it. He planned to jump on the windowsill and scare the onna in the middle of …. Just scare the onna. Hiei waited a few more seconds then leapt up to the window, only to be smacked in the forehead with a katana sheath and fall flat on his back in the grass below. Rubbing his head, Hiei looked up and found the onna squatted there with a katana in hand and a smirk on her face.

"I didn't think you would actually try something so … immature Hiei. I'm actually disappointed." She stated with a mock frown and shaking her finger. Inside however she was laughing hysterically, she had actually counted on him to do that after the way she had purposely antagonized him.

"Grrr, watch it onna or we'll just have to see how good you are with that." He growled back nodding towards her sword.

"Why Hiei, that was exactly my intention." She retorted with a smile and then before he could blink away his confusion, she jumped to the ground and took off into the woods at an amazing speed. Hiei was shocked with total confusion he just didn't understand her, he shook of his confusion and took off after her.

The two demons were running through the forest with amazing speeds, looking behind her, the cloaked women saw the fire demon almost upon her and grinned at him, then disappeared into thin air. Hiei skid to a stop looked around him frantically, he couldn't sense her so he had to rely on his other senses. Closing his eyes to concentrate, Hiei flinched and pulled his katana above his head as fast as he could, the loud metallic clash of the two swords colliding echoed through the small forest. Both wielders stood pressing against the other with their sword, Hiei narrowed his eyes at his grinning opponent.

"What are you up too onna?" he questioned.

"Up too?" she said innocently. But before Hiei could answer she jumped back a few feet and again charged at him.

The forest again rang with the sounds of strikes and swipes. They faught on the ground and in the trees, Hiei was mostly on the defensive having just recovered from injuries, still he held his own even though the onna was fast, but seemed a bit clumsy with her sword in her left hand. The two demons kept this up for a few hours and by noon Hiei was panting and sweat fell in drops down each of their faces, but still they continued swiping and swinging. Hiei was exhausted and wanted to end it, but he would not let the onna win, then he go an idea, with the last ounce of his strength Hiei swung at her and as expected she blocked it but with a great heave he swung both their swords in a circle as fast as he could, making the onna's sword fly from her hands into a near by tree where it vibrated with the force it had been thrown. Having disarmed his opponent Hiei quickly made a stab towards her chest, but to his utter surprise all he saw with wide eyes was a brown cloak float harmlessly around his sword. He stood absolutely still, how could she have moved so quickly?

As the shock began to dwindle Hiei suddenly felt a light warm breeze against his neck, and with it came an unfamiliar scent that seemed to wafer softly around him. That's when he heard her, right behind him, close enough to speak softly in his ear.

"You nearly got me there. I'll have to be more cautious." She said.

Hiei shivered as her breath brushed his ear and out of the corner of his eye he saw strands of her hair floating past him shimmering a bright violet and he realized that she was standing behind him without her cloak. Curiosity got hold of him and throttled, whirling around quickly he saw nothing but the surrounding forest, frowning he turned back only to find the onna there, and back in her cloak.

"Lets have lunch, shall we?" with that said she turned and began her trek back to the cottage. Hiei was once again dumbstruck with his jaw to the floor, but blinking away his shock he humpfed in annoyance and went to follow the onna. They remained silent, each in their own thoughts, until they reached the cottage where they entered and the onna began immediately making fruit salad and sandwiches. Hiei just sat and watched her with a suspicious look as she went on as though she hadn't just fought with him all day after picking a fight. Placing two bowels of salad and two plates with sandwiches on the table she sat down and began eating. Hiei glanced between her and the food for a minute then began eating as well, again they both sat in silence as they ate their meals. When she was done the onna fetched two glasses of water and set one by him and the other she sat and drank slowly. When he finished Hiei simple sat back with his arms crossed and stared at her with suspicious eyes. After about ten minutes of this, she couldn't help but notice and squirm a bit under his soul penetrating crimson eyes.

"Is there something bothering you Hiei?" she finally asked.

"Hn, what are you up to onna?" he asked again more firmly.

"What do you mean?"

"Quite playing innocent Onna! Why did you pick a fight with me and then just drop it?" he shouted heatedly.

"What? Pick a fight?"

"YES BAKA ONNA, just a few moments ago we were fighting and now your acting like it never happened."

"Really, well I was under the impression that we were training to regain your strength, after you griped about being weak." She sneered back with an unusually cold voice, but Hiei didn't seem to notice. She had been training him? He mentally smacked his head at not realizing this sooner, Hiei now felt a bit guilty about yelling at her, but he would never admit it.

"Hn, well you could have just said that, onna." He said instead.

"I guess I just assumed you would know that." She said emotionlessly. Hiei winced mentally and silence followed for a minute before becoming uncomfortable Hiei decided to break it.

"It's to bad the fox has to train that buffoon, he would like this salad." He said without making eye contact, but she knew this was his way of apologizing and complementing at the same time. Smiling inwardly she decided she would have some fun with him.

"Really? I can give you the recipe to give to him, it makes a great romantic treat for when the two of you want some one on one time."

"What? Why would we want that?" he asked not quite getting it.

"You know, two lovers, alone, feeding each other, then . . . "

"LOVERS? Who are you talking about onna!?" He interrupted with wide eyes and red cheeks.

"Well, you and your fox, right?" Hiei was shot, wide eyed and mouth agape in disbelief. "Isn't he your boyfriend?" she continued.

Hiei had never been so close to fainting in his life as the color just drained from his face. She thought he was gay? Gay? Him and the fox? With a burst of disgust Hiei was instantly thrown from his shocked state.

"I AM NOT GAY, ONNA!" he shouted red faced.

"Really, well it sounded as though . . . well never mind." She managed to state calmly but had to take a sip of water in order to hide her grin that revealed that inside she had just died of laughter and gone to laughing heaven.

Hiei was seething with anger, frustration and embarrassment, how could this onna possible get the idea that he was gay? He stomped over to her and grabbed the front of her cloak.

"I'm. Not. Gay." He hissed at her.

"Very well, if you insist, it's just that you must use a lot of hair gel and I haven't heard any straight guys say my fox when referring to another guy. You can't blame me." She couldn't help but crack a smile.

"I don't use gel it just naturally stands up like this and second I said THE FOX not MY FOX!" Hiei exclaimed. The onna seemed to just look at him for a while and then, before he could pull away, she was standing inches from him and running her fingers through his hair. Hiei stood stock still, he'd never had anyone run their fingers through his hair, it was strangely comforting and at the same time the same scent he had smelt at the end of their training began to tease his nose. Closing his eyes, was drawn into the peaceful feeling of her hands running threw his hair and the familiar sweet scent that seemed to come from her. Realizing that she was still petting his amazingly soft hair, she quickly stopped and backed away, pulling Hiei from his thoughts. Both a bit embarrassed there was a moment of silence before without warning, the onna punched him hard upside the head and then dashed out of the house laughing. Before she even got to the forest a shout of 'ONNA!' rang through the valley, only making her laugh harder and nearly trip before she picked up speed to avoid a steaming fire demon.

Hiei was running after the onna smirking, for he would make her pay for that little stunt, he could see a brown blur up ahead and sped up, then he heard her laughing and growled while going faster. He almost reached her when she jumped into a high tree and began limb hopping, skidding to a stop he leapt into a neighboring tree and the chase resumed.

* * *

Their chase continued for about an hour, Hiei was unable to catch her and this frustrated him to no end. Going from tree to tree and some times racing across the forest floor, the onna continues to remain out of his reach, though sometimes appearing right next to him just to tease and then jump from his reach. She was a little surprised that he wasn't even close to catching her; she had thought him much stronger and faster than this. With a final leap to the ground from the tree, she speed ahead of Hiei faster then he could see. Startled Hiei raced into the direction she went and followed her scent until he came into a half moon, small clearing and a cliff wall staring him down. Sitting on a rock against the cliff waiting patiently was the demoness that had escaped his grasp. He took a step forward ready to charge at her but was stopped when her voice sounded threw the clearing in a serious tone.

"Just a moment, Hiei, I have a proposition to make." Hiei straightened and stared at her thinking she was trying to get out of her punishment. She sighs and then continues, "I had honestly thought you stronger then what you presently are, I know that you can become extremely powerful just by the aura of untapped power that surrounds you. I can't completely train you in the little time we have but I can put you on the right path. Do you wish to try?"

Hiei was confused, angry and curious all at the same time, but anger tends to show up easier. "What the hell makes you think that YOU can train ME?" he demanded.

"Would you like me to fight you? I believe you'll be satisfied after I have defeated you." She said simply with no hint of pride or teasing that made Hiei think more seriously about the offer as his anger lessened. Perhaps the onna was truly stronger than him, her training may come in handy, but she hardly seemed strong enough to be his sensei. And what if he defeated her? Then a devious and brilliant plan came to him and he smirked at her.

"We will fight and should you win then I'll train with you, but if you lose then you have to remove your cloak and answer any questions I have truthfully and fully."

Hiei's smirk gets wider when he sees the onna shocked and silent for a moment. She debates her options and weighs them. She knows he can't win but what if he suddenly pulls a rabbit from a hat and somehow manages a win. Would satisfying his curiosity be worth possibly losing his life? Then again if he manages to defeat me then there would be no need to protect him. Sighing with defeat, she slowly stands and nods to Hiei in agreement. Moving to the middle of the clearing she reaches into her hood with her right hand and pulls from her back a short red stick, then waits patiently. Hiei lifts a brow in confusion and walks towards her.

"Why not fight with your katana?" he asks her as he draws his and takes a stance.

The onna smiles at him and then replies in a most amused voice, "Because It's not mine and I won't need it, it is not my only weapon of choice."

"What!" How could the onna not have used her own sword but still have nearly beat him left handed when in the forest, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. "Then what are your weapons of choice?"

Laughing, she snapped her wrist with the stick and in an instant it became a red Bo with gold tips, nearly as tall as she was. She twirled it expertly between her hands, and then crouched into a stance with her right foot and Bo behind her and her left hand up, ready to fight. "You have not won the fight yet, Jaganshi"

But before he could reply, she jumped forward with a speed that left him barely enough time to bring up his katana to block the tip of her Bo from bashing in his head. Then she altered her stance and smashed the other end of her Bo into his thigh making him cry out in pain as he fell backwards. Using the fall he rolled back onto his feet in a crouched position and sprung at her with a slash of his sword. The onna blocked and then used his momentum to make it go past her and as he tried to regain his balance was helpless to stop the speeding fist that soon collided with the back of his head, sending him skidding through the dirt.

Hiei sat up and spit out the dirt that he's scooped up with his teeth and shook out his daze. He turned and glared at her when he heard her statement, "You should expect the unexpected at all times, preventing you from being caught off guard all the time."

With anger Hiei again charged at her, but before reaching her, he jumped up slashed down on her. The onna moved swiftly to his left and he shot of the ground towards the direction she had gone. He was just about to stab her when she disappeared and reappeared beside him bringing her Bo down on his back before he could react. Hiei rolled away again and coughed as the air that had escaped his lungs swiftly returned. "You must be able to change your direction of attack at any given moment, the inability to do so could leave you open to a surprise attacks."

He growled at her in anger and charged with ferocity, slashing and swiping with all the speed and power he could muster. She simply dodged and avoided all attacks while moving backwards, until she backed into a tree with seeming no escape. Hiei grinned and plunged forward until he felt the tip of his sword cut into the thick bark of the tree. Hiei blinked in confusion when there was no onna in between, a flicker of movement brought his eyes down to the floor where she was sitting on the ground leaning against the tree and smiling, then before he could react she recoiled her feet slammed them into his chest. With an 'oaf' Hiei flew backwards with his katana still stuck in the tree, he landed skidding on his back and grunted at the pain that seemed to hit him from both sides. Slowly and shakely he stood and saw the onna walking slowly towards him with her Bo in hand, he growled and waited for her to make the next move. As she walked towards him she could see the sweat and pain of exhaustion on his face, but still he stood stubbornly and bravely, she knew he wouldn't give up or surrender until she beat him. Stopping about two feet from Hiei, she thrust her Bo in the ground and disappeared, Hiei watched as she flickered in and out of his view around him. Then before he could react and quicker then he could block, the onna began rapid punches that hit him like a car. They came at him from every direction and landed on every part of him, then came a pause and he saw her stop in front of him a second before her fist came yet again for a final blow on the side of his head.

Hiei fell to the ground and his conscious flickered in and out, until finally deciding he could stay awake. Hiei squinted open his eyes and saw the shadowed figure of the onna standing over him with her Bo pointed directly at his throat. There was silence as each waited for the other to move. Hiei glowered at the baka onna that had beaten him, he knew she was waiting for his surrender and he could find no way out. She just stood there silently waiting without gloating or offering help, he sighed and relaxed into the only sign of defeat that she would receive. The onna stepped back a ways and relaxed against her Bo, Hiei grunted at his aches as he pushed himself into a sitting position. Doing a mental physical check of his body he was astounded to find that she had beaten him black and blue without breaking a single thing in him, shit, she's good. He heard a chuckle and looked up at the smiling onna with a raised eyebrow.

"I think I may have underestimated you, Hiei. You're one who learns from each experience and mistake, so you improve with every blow. That in its self is a rare talent." She commented and Hiei couldn't help but smirk with pride.

"Not to bad yourself onna." He grunted in response. The sound of her warm tinkling laughter soon washed over him and his smirk faltered ever so slightly.

"Why thank you sir. That's such a high honor and compliment coming from the great Hiei Jaganshi himself." She grinned back while mockingly bowing her head slightly. Hiei's smirk widened, although she was mocking him, he felt that some part of the comment had rung true.

"Hiei, why is it you didn't use any of your ka?" she asked with an air of casualness. Hiei was slightly confused for a minute trying to think what she was talking about when he remembered the fox talking about how he used ka to grow his plants. He looked at the onna and shrugged not wanting to admit he didn't know any more about it. He saw her frown in understanding, then sigh and sit cross-legged on the ground with her Bo lying in front of her.

"I guess that's going to be the first thing you need to learn. Explaining it is going to take a minute so this should give you time to rest before we start again." She stated, pausing to chuckle at the slight look of reproach from the fire demon, then continued, "First, ka is like your energy but it's the elemental manifestation of earth, water, fire, or air that it takes when released. For instance, when I lifted you using my ka that I transformed into the air, or growing and controlling plants, or even manipulating fire and water. Each demon is born with the ability to use their ka but they have to be strong in spirit and body, most of the time when a demon reaches that stage their ka shows itself at a time of stress or high emotion and the only reason I can think of that you haven't seen yours yet is because you were born of two different and opposing ka elements." Hiei was now sitting in front of the onna cross-legged and frustrated with the new information, did this mean he couldn't use ka? "Believe it or not Hiei but your situation is not an uncommon one, there are a few times when a child born of two different ka's cannot use either because the parents where of equal strength in their ka's and therefore the child's ka could not decide which element to manifest as. However we've found that we can sometimes influence which element should reign by somehow tipping the scale."

"So how do I 'tip the scale' and use my ka." Hiei interrupted.

"Well there are many different ways, like surrounding the said demon in the element he wishes to win, or having another demon with the same ka as he wishes to loan some of his element to him, or even injecting them with the blood of a demon with that element. Which is why I think you should already be able to use your ka, Hiei, because of the blood we injected in you for the cure." Hiei quirked his eyebrow and stared hard at the onna trying to conceal his excitement.

"So which element is my ka, onna." He demanded with a slight you-better-have-picked-the-right-one tone, making her a bit nervous with her decision.

"Well, you were incapacitated at the point of time so we weren't sure which you preferred, but figured that considering your male, fire might be a safer bet." She said hesitantly hoping she had been right. Hiei stared at her unblinkingly for a few seconds then sat back with arms crossed and gave a 'Hn' but mentally grinned for that would have been his choice. Hiei looked back up at her and smirked at her look of relief.

"Are you saying I can throw fire balls now, onna?" he asked.

"Most likely yes, we just have to get you to bring it out."

"And what are you suggesting onna?"

"Hmmm, well… how are you feeling now?" she asked casually. Hiei was caught slightly of guard, but began working his once sore areas.

"Hn, I feel fine, onna, now how are we going to . . . " he was unable to finish his sentence due to the onna's red Bo smashing the ground right where he would have been sitting had he not moved quickly enough.

"What the hell are you doing now onna?" he shouted angrily at her, but instead of answering she merely smirked at him and charged at him with a stab. Hiei rolled to avoid it then quickly went for his sword, grabbing it just in time to block her incoming blows. Continuously she struck at him and nothing he said could stop her, in fact Hiei was becoming very frustrated and angr . . . that was it! She was making him angry in order to get his ka to show, now that he'd figured it out Hiei smirked and concentrated on the fight. The onna struck at him with a mighty blow that sent his feet skidding back a ways and Hiei was again readied a defense but looked at the onna who was simply standing there in a fighting stance with a slight frown of thought on her face. He used this chance to catch his breath and watched as suddenly her face looked as though a light bulb had switched on in her head. Hiei watched with apprehension as the onna straightened and before his very eyes change into a completely different person. Her entire demeanor and personality changed, his apprehension grew when she suddenly began grinning while sliding her Bo back under her cloak. Somehow Hiei could sense that this was not the same onna that he'd come to know over the last few days, she was dangerous now, and this unsettled him.

"Well it's not really fair for you to have a sharp pointy sword, when I don't. Is it?" She said in maniacal voice.

"I thought you couldn't wield that katana." Hiei answered shortly while stabilizing his defense position.

"Who cares? It's a sharp point thing that cuts. Besides, you can't be all that capable with it either, considering I beat you before." She stated sarcastically. Hiei growled in warning and anger, how dare the onna say that, what the hell was she up to? She emitted a sharp laugh at him and crossed her arms. "Your such a little brat, you know that? I think you need a beating and I know just where to get the tool to help in your shameful whipping." She grinned then disappeared into the forest. Hiei was now steaming with anger, how dare she call him a brat and boast about beating him, then take off. Suddenly the memory of the last instant of their last sword fight came up, her sword was still stuck in that tree! Not really wanting her to have a sword, Hiei took off as fast as he could towards the clearing, but he was too late for when he arrived there stood the onna with the sword in hand and a maniacal grin on her face. "Here little fire demon. Come a little closer. I wont kill you . . . yet." She taunted and laughed when Hiei sneered and crouched in defensive position once again, his thoughts somewhere along the line of, shit.

* * *

About an hour before sunset Hiei was beaten, bruised and bleeding, in fact he was so exhausted that it was by sheer will that he continued to stand. They stood a few feet apart, Hiei leaning slightly against his katana panting and the onna across from him smirking with her sword resting across her shoulders. She wasn't even breathing hard, he knew she was taunting him, playing with him but it didn't matter because he couldn't defeat her. She'd insulted him, beaten him and humiliated him to a point he was blinded by rage and still he couldn't touch her. He watched as she walked slowly, tauntingly and deliberately towards him with that evil smirk of doom, he had one more card to play and put all his cards on this hand. He waited until she stood right in front of him and brought up her sword ready to bring it down in a life-ending blow. Hiei suddenly plopped down on the ground sprawled out with his sword lying beside him and looked up at her defiantly. 

"Go ahead onna, I've had enough of this game and your endless chatter. Anything's better then having to look at you any longer." He taunted sharply, holding his breath in hopes that he was right to try and call her bluff. There was silence for a few seconds then Hiei panicked as he watched the sword came down, he squeezed his eyes shut waiting for the piercing pain. Suddenly he heard a soft sigh and peeked his eyes open, the onna stood in front of him leaning against her sword with one hand and her other on her chin in a thinking stance.

"Well, that certainly didn't work. And I was sure I could have fooled anyone with that act. (sigh) I guess ill have to think of something else to help channel his ka. Oh well, at least he got a work out." She muttered to her self. Hiei's eyes widened in disbelief as he stumbled over her words, it had all been an act. Then without warning his eyes slammed shut and his fists balled as his confused, relieved, and shocked feelings merged into anger so great that his now open and narrowed eyes began to glow a bright and furious red. His entire body heated up and shook with rage and unbeknownst to him his very aura seemed to be aflame. The onna backed away slowly with her mouth in an O shape of astonishment, Hiei tried to stand and exact his revenge in the form of a mountain of pain, but his body was still to exhausted and in an act of furious frustration Hiei did what he felt was the only way to hurt her and sent arm swinging at her as though to throw a baseball but instead a burning ball of black flames shot at her. The onna looked briefly panicked and scrambled on all fours to get out of the way so that the ball of flame instead made contact with a tree not to far away and exploded in a shower of splinters.

Hiei was dumbfounded, had he just done that? Hearing the onna's tinkling laughter he looked over to her and found her squatting a ways from him, she stood up still laughing and walked shakely towards him. When she was next to him she sat down cross-legged and leaned back on her hands while still giggling at Hiei's look of open-mouthed wide-eyed astonishment at what he'd just done. When her mirth had finally subsided she turned towards him and smiled brightly with pride and satisfaction.

"Well done Hiei, not only have you activated your ka, but it seems it's manifested in one of the more powerful forms of flame that many have to be taught to summon. What you just used is known as the darkness flame or immortal flame because it can't be extinguished as easily as the flame of a campfire, for instance. With hard work and a lot practice you could master it, but you'll have to train for endurance because it also takes more ka or energy to use it. " She stated with glee. Hiei let her words sink in and as a smirk began to grace his lips so also did pride fill him, he had used his ka and it had been powerful, it was all thanks to that onna. Then he remembered what she had done in order to get him to do it an annoyed glare replaced his smirk and he quickly brought his fist down on her head with a 'thunk'. "Owww, what was that for? I helped you summon your ka remember?" she glowered back while rubbing her head.

"Hn, I don't care. That was for all the hassle you put me through you baka onna." He retorted with crossed arms.

"I was only trying to help, but I suppose your right. I shouldn't have taken the liberty. Can you forgive me?" Hiei looked up at her and saw her mouth set in a sort of sheepish grimace and he was sure that if he could see them, her eyes would have a pleading look. He quickly looked away and gave a soft 'Hn' then turned back around with a stern look.

"Do anything like that again onna and I won't be so forgiving." He stated simply.

"Of course not. Here." She placed her hand on his shoulders and he began to feel more energized as he realized that she was giving him some of her energy. "Let's go. There's a hot spring in the trees near the lake where you can take a bath. I'll start dinner so we eat and then sleep, it's been an exhausting day." She stated mildly as she stood and began her trek back to the cabin. Hiei found that the energy she'd given him was enough to where he could stand and he began walking towards to where the onna had stated was a hot spring.

As he relaxed in the warm water, Hiei thought over his day, he had accomplished more in one day with that onna then he had in years. What an odd onna she was, at the beginning she was serious, withdrawn, almost shy, but the longer he knew her the more easygoing and playful she became, as though she was beginning to trust him. Hiei grunted at the thought, he didn't trust anyone, maybe the fox, but not completely. So why was the onna trusting him and helping him like this, maybe because she knew he was a spirit detective? Still as much as he hated to admit it though, he did owe the onna quite a lot, hating to be in anyone's debt he resolved to find a way to pay her back, maybe she wanted a favor.

Hiei ended his thoughts and climbed out of the soothing water, replacing his cloths and katana, made his way to the cottage where he could smell the onna's cooking. He walked in to find the onna still at the stove and sat down in a chair at the small table already placed with bowls, spoons, glasses filled with water and a large loaf of bread in the center.

"Did you enjoy it?" the onna asked with her back to him stirring a pot.

"Hn."

They didn't speak after that, simply opting to sit in a comfortable silence as they waited for the meal to finish. Hiei was a bit droopy eyed but his hunger and thoughts kept him awake. The onna finally switched off the stove and carried the pot and ladle to the small table where they both served themselves to a thick stew and chunks of fresh bread. As he ate Hiei watched her for a bit debating when he should begin questioning her, he decided that now, before sleep took him, would be the best time.

"Why have you been helping me, onna?" he asked.

She looked up at him right in the middle of bringing her spoon of stew to her mouth, putting it back down she leaned back and looked at him. "Because you're a spirit detective and now Lord Koenma is in debt to me, which could come handy in a tight spot." She answered shortly.

"Hn, would you have helped the others if it had been them instead of me?"

"I'm. . . not sure, but I think I would have helped to cure them. Training them would not be as interesting." She replied with a small smile.

"That means that me working for Lord bottle butt is not your only reason. So what are you getting out of this, onna?"

The onna smirked at his comment towards Koenma but then went serious as she thought through her actions. "I see. I hadn't thought that you might feel obligated to do a favor for me in return. There really is nothing that you can do for me right now Hiei." Hiei snorted in frustration as he looked around in the cabin in thought. "Hiei, you mentioned 'the fox' and 'buffoon' earlier. Are they friends of yours?" Hiei was caught of guard by her question but quickly smirked and responded with an amused tone.

"Hn, they are two of the other spirit detectives. 'The fox' is Kurama who you probably know as yoko Kurama, " he paused to watch her reaction to yoko's name, normally girls went all googly eyed and acted as if in heat at his mention, but the onna simply sat there as though not really interested. Hiei was puzzled at why this seem to please him slightly, "the 'buffoon' is a weak, ugly, baka ningen who keeps chasing after the detective, Urameshi, another lucky ass baka ningen. I'd hardly call those two my friends." He snorted.

The onna chuckled a bit and then looked at him again. "But you do consider the fox a friend?"

Hiei looked away briefly then feeling as though he could he responded with a 'Hn' and waiting for her to laugh at him. But when he looked back she was simply sitting there with a non-chalant smile and looking out the kitchen window.

"Hiei, I have to leave here tomorrow and I don't think I'll be able to return. I've been coming here for years as a sort of vacation spot, but . . ." she paused and looked back at him with a slight frown, "my life will soon change drastically and there's nothing I can do to stop it. However, I don't want this place to be forgotten or invaded by heathens, and I know that you appreciate it for its beauty just as I do. I wish to give it to you, as your own territory if you will." Hiei was stunned, she was right in thinking that he appreciated this valley, however, he didn't need anymore gifts or favors from her, Before he could protest though she cut him off to continue, "I know you don't want a gift, Hiei, that's why I'm proposing a trade."

"What trade, onna?" he asked suspiciously. What could he possibly have that would equal in value to this valley.

"I know now how high your price is for giving anyone the title of friendship because I can see how uncommon it is for you, a rare thing is a high value perhaps even more so then this valley. So I offer you this valley as trade for your friendship, Hiei." She offered softly.

Hiei starred at her emotionlessly trying to discern if she was jesting or sincere, half wishing she was joking because then he knew how to react but the other half was convinced she was serious and was too stunned to react. No one had ever asked for his friendship before, in fact he had never even offered it out loud before, she even thought that the valley they were now in was to little a trade for it. Hiei had never given his friendship any worth, so why was this onna that he barely knew rating it so highly? Could he really consider her a friend? The onna has shown him nothing but kindness and a helping hand, but he didn't know enough about her to trust her. He didn't even know her name, but would that make a difference? The onna has spoken nothing but truths to him, but that doesn't mean she would never deceive him, perhaps a test of her honesty and trust for him, is that not what friendship is?

"I'll accept the trade, onna" he paused as he watched a bright smile begin to grace her lips, "If you tell me your name." slowly her smile began to fade and she looked down, what if he recognized her name? It could be disastrous if he turned her in, or held her captive, he could even renounce his friendship, but would he really do something like that? No, she trusted him and she had to be willing to believe in him as well if she expected him to do the same, it was only fair.

"Well, onna?" she looked up and saw that he seemed impatient. She smiled softly at him and looked back down.

"Yabi" she whispered.

"What?" he asked. For a moment she panicked thinking he was angry but then calmed and took a deep breath when she saw he was simply confused because he hadn't heard her.

"My name . . . is , Yabi." She said shyly but a bit louder. She watched his face for any sign of recognition or anger and found only a wide smirk slowly grace his lips.

"Now was that so hard, Onna?" he taunted playfully.

A bright smile came to her face and she giggled in response. "No, I suppose it wasn't." She watched as Hiei yawned and stretched, then made his way towards the bed on the other side of the cabin. The night had just settled bringing with it the reminder that Hiei needed rest, but before he slept she had to say one more thing. "Thank you, Hiei." She said as he flopped down on the bed and replied with only a grunt. Yabi cleared the table and cleaned the dishes then sat in the kitchen windowsill looking outside at the full moon who's rays seemed to light up everything it touched with a mysterious and beautiful glow. Then reaching into the sleeve of her cloak she pulled out the silver flute and began to play a slow haunting tune that seemed to blend with the mysteries of the night. Hiei lay there listening to the melody as he pondered the reason for the onna's reluctance and even fear to telling him her name, Yabi, he had never heard the name before. Slowly his eyes began to close as the song began to warp his senses and slowly lull him into the relaxing darkness that ended all his thoughts.

* * *

It was some time after midnight when Hiei woke, he quickly glanced around to see if there was danger that his instincts were warning him off. There was no one there and everything was quite but for the normal sounds of the night critters about there business. Still, his instincts had never led him wrong and they were telling him that something was up and he should go check it out. Hiei walked outside and surveyed the area to find still nothing of importance, putting his senses on high alert, he stood there a few minutes. Finally, in the distance towards the lake, on the side bordering the woods by the hot spring he heard a barely detectable splash. Probably the onna taking a bath, but always the man of caution, Hiei began a slight run towards the sound, quietly and mindful of his surroundings. About half a mile from the splashes origin, a scent began to tingle his nose and he stopped. Hiei recognized this scent, it was the sweet scent that came from the onna, but somehow different, sweeter, spicier. Normally he would have stopped and returned to the cabin to sleep but for some reason the scent was drawing him in, his curiosity got the better of him and he ran forward. The closer he came the stronger the scent became and the stronger the pull, it was as though it was intoxicating him as his temperature began to rise in anticipation, but for what? Finally he came upon some bushes with weeds everywhere, the scent was so strong and sweet he could think of nothing but to get to it. Parting the weeds and brush Hiei raised his eyes to the water and past, only to be stunned open-mouthed by the sheer image before him.

* * *

READ, RATE, WRITE! 


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey sorry it took so long. Here's chapter 4!**

* * *

The woods were scattered with the colored scents of the millions of life forms that trafficked through there daily. There was one turquoise colored trail that held the interest of a passing wolf. The trail was faded with the passing of days, but still traceable, the wolf trotted down the path as it went deeper into the woods. After a few hours the turquoise sent became stronger and the wolf picked up speed, soon coming to a dirt clearing that held the scent strongly but also mingled with a two toned scent that sort of merged into a lime green. Sniffing around the area the wolf found two turquoise trails, one leading slightly away from the clearing towards the general direction he'd come from and the other in the opposite direction was also mingled with the lime scent. Curiosity getting a hold of him, the wolf continued in the direction of the odd two-toned scent trotting at a fast speed until he reached the strongest point of the scent. By now a tangerine colored scent joined the two he'd been tracking, snorting slightly to clear his nose of the unpleasant smell, he concentrated on the lime scent and quietly slunk foreword. It wasn't to long until the wolf came to a small campground, hiding behind a bush he observed two male people in a battle. He watched as the taller of the two, who he sniffed as the tangerine smell, dodged the whip like branch from the other male that he sniffed to be the lime green scent he had been curious of. Sniffing harder he found that he also had a light turquoise color on him, but could not find the owner of the scent anywhere. This annoyed the curious wolf and he snorted in frustration, only to freeze when the Lime male suddenly stiffened and called to the tangerine boy to halt their actions.

"Hold on a minute, Kuwabara." Kurama said softly while holding up his hand to halt any questions from his training partner. He had been sure he heard something from one of the bushes surrounding their camp. Stepping forward slightly, he aimed all his senses to the area to the left of them trying to locate the cause of the sound. Kurama took another soft step forward and flexed his right wrist to ready his, always present, rose whip; what ever it was wasn't human so caution was necessary.

"What is it Kurama? I don't see anything." Kuwabara stated confidently with his hand like a visor on his forehead looking in the direction of his friends gaze.

Kurama sighed and straightened, "Did we not discuss the importance of patience and quite when waiting for an opponent to make a move, Kuwabara."

"Yeah, but if there's nothing there then how do you know when to stop waiting?" Kuwabara asked, scratching his head in confusion.

Kurama closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief at some of the things that came from his friends' mouth, opening his eyes he glanced once again in the direction of the noise he'd heard and narrowed his eyes. There! A gleam of eyes peered from between the leaves of a bush, with quick precision, Kurama snapped his wrist at the bush and in a matter of seconds nothing but leaves and twigs remained on the floor where once stood a tall brush. There squatting was a grown timber wolf eyeing Kurama with displeasure, a bit confused at what a timber wolf was doing here, Kurama was brought from his thoughts by an unmanly squeal from his sparing partner who quickly scampered up a tree. Here was a human with strong spiritual powers about to enter one of the most powerful demon tournaments, running from a mere wolf, I suppose some things don't change, thought Kurama.

[_That pathetic human will never survive the Dark Tournament. You may as well dig his grave now.]_

Kurama was instantly on alert and his eyes flickered to his surroundings trying to find the intruder that had spoken in his mind, but he could sense no other presence save himself, Kuwabara and the wolf. Narrowing his eyes at the calm beast Kurama thought to it, [_Who are you?]._

_[That's an interesting choice of question. Not, 'what are you?' or 'was that you?'] _Replied the wolf, cocking his head to the side._ [In any case my name is not important, why you have my mistresses scent on you is.]_

[_I do not know what you mean?]_ Kurama answered in his calculating tone. He was sure that the wolf meant Lily but he was not about to reveal this until he better understood the situation.

[_I'm sure you do. I can smell her on you. I am looking for her, if you do not tell me where she has gone and why her scent is on you, then I'll waste no time killing that waste of space in the tree up there, you call a friend.]_ The wolf was now on all fours with his head bent low glaring at the red haired man that was standing between him and his mistress.

Kurama shifted slightly in his fighting stance watching and calculating the wolf's moves. [_What do you want with her?_]

[_ENOUGH!! She is my mistress and I her guardian. You are covered in her scent and she is nowhere to be found. You WILL tell me what has perspired between you and where she has gone or your life will be FORFEIT!] _The wolf was now snarling with teeth bared and shackles raised, ready to attack the arrogant young whelp that dared stand in the way of him finding his mistress.

Kurama realized that the wolf was only trying to protect Lily and was only coming to a logical conclusion that Kurama may have hurt his mistress. Relaxing slightly but still on the defensive he spoke steadily to the wolf, [_I have done her no harm, we merely had a friendly battle and she gave to me her weighted vest, which is undoubtedly what you are smelling.]_

_[Show me.]_ He demanded.

Kurama used his left hand and slowly lifted the edge of his shirt to reveal a bit of the vest. The wolf sniffed a bit at the air and 'saw' that indeed the turquoise scent of coming of f of it, then snorted and shook his body back into its more relaxed state.

[_In order to give you such a gift, my mistress must have thought either very highly or pity for you. Either way, I'm not sure I approve, you're much too arrogant for a whelp. Now tell me where she has gone so I may leave that orange monkey's stench behind.]_

Kurama was highly insulted both for his and Kuwabara's sakes, but for Lily's sake he kept his anger and tongue in check and with narrowed eyes simply pointed in direction he'd last seen he head too. Then in as cool and polite tone as he could muster he stated, [_When you find her, please, give her my greeting and appreciation for the gift. It has been most helpful and I'm sure she would love to hear that.]_

The wolf snapped its teeth at Kurama then turned and jogged in the direction he'd been told leaving only one lingering thought.

[_Arrogant Whelp!!]_

The moon was full and it's light seemed to sparkle and dance on the surface of the small river but that wasn't what held Hiei's attention. Standing in the water, dressed only in a sheer nightgown that outlined her every curve, was Yabi, Hiei blinked as his mind tried to process a reaction to the sight before him. She stood with her back to him, face upturned towards the glow in the sky with her eyes closed and the moon seemed to illuminate her long violet hair and the strands that caught the moon light directly shimmered a almost white gold as it cascaded down her back, past her thighs and ended with the tips swaying in the water. She didn't seem to realize he was there, as though all her concentration was focused on the feel of the water and the moon. He had always been secretly annoyed that he couldn't see her, but when thinking of what the onna might be like under that cloak of hers, he had never even come close to the image before him. He had even imagined that she was ugly and that's why she didn't want to reveal herself, but that theory was quickly thrown out, so why did she put so much effort in concealing herself? Hiei couldn't seem to understand his thoughts and he became more aware of the heat spreading from his core and up into his head, his surroundings were slowly starting to fade as only the onna occupied them.

They were both startled from their thoughts when Hiei unconsciously stepped towards the bank only to have the gravel give way and a pebble roll into the slow stream. Hiei quickly looked up at her with slight embarrassment only to find that she had turned her face away from his sight and was now shivering with her fists clenched at her side. He looked at her curiously until he heard her speak in a shaky voice.

"Y-you shouldn't b-be here. Leave." She stuttered out with noticeable effort. The shaking in her voice seemed to lift the Hiei from his sudden fever, he observed her more closely what he had thought to be slight shivering he could see now as tight trembling. Tiny beads of perspiration shimmered on her face and he could now hear the small breathless pants of desperation that came from her when she exhaled and he watched as her chest fluttered with effort to maintain steady breaths.

"Hn. What is it, onna?"

"Can you not feel it? " she gasped, "I'm sorry you . . . you have . . . that you are here. "

"What are you going on about onna?" Hiei sniffed at her, then she whimpered and Hiei was hit with a wave of her enticing scent. Automatically he took a step towards her as his senses were overwhelmed with the heat once more and Hiei's red eyes began to flicker with an inner glow.

"NO!" Yabi shouted in effort. Swiftly the air around her shifted as she drew back in her scent like a skintight cloth. "Hiei . . . leave quickly. . . it's painful to h-hold."

Hiei blinked at the loss of the heat once again and as he grasped her words, he suddenly understood what was happening. She was in heat. It happened to most of the furred female demons, it happens at a certain period of time when their bodies are most prime for conceiving, they heat up and begin naturally emitting pheromones through there scent to attract any male demons in the area. Hiei turned his head down to the side to try and hide his heated face for he'd never encountered this throughout his life's goals and missions. What he did know came from the many tales he'd heard from drunks and whores that littered the taverns he had gone too to gather information. However, he had never heard of it being painful, only uncomfortable, why was this onna hurting so? Yabi exhaled and panted to try and even her breaths and steady her control, she normally had a better grip on the heat that raced through her, but for some reason she had lost that steady hold when she saw him stand there, bathed in the moonlight. Why was it so much harder to control with him near? Could he not see how much she struggled? Why would he not leave?

"Hiei, you were not supposed to be here, but I lost track of time while with you." She spoke cautiously, "It happens only once a year, so I can normally stay in control, but … it is taking more effort and energy in your presence. Please go, I do not wish for this to be your last memory of me." Hiei frowned at her, he was still in debt to her, she had told him earlier that she was leaving but he didn't think that he might never be able to repay her. Hiei snorted at the thought, when his death came he wanted nothing owed in this existence. Perhaps there was a way to rid her of the pain, perhaps there was some way his jagen could help her control it, with these thoughts Hiei stubbornly stepped closer. "Do not come any closer Hiei, don't let me rob you of your senses."

"Hn, don't think me so weak onna. I'm not leaving until I have repaid my debt."

"Hiei, leaving here would be payment enough, please, I'm not sure I can hold much longer."

"Running is not going to do it." Hiei stepped closer and for a moment Yabi stopped breathing, "I'm going to help you with your pain, onna" She only had time to breath in a silent 'no' before Hiei's jagen penetrated her mind, but in doing so unknowingly penetrated the very shield that kept the heat within. Her scent crashed upon him like a blast of steam, immediately his own demon heat rose up and spread to every inch of him like a hand slipping into a glove. The hand flexed and Hiei was no longer in control of himself, he could no longer think, as though someone pulled an override switch and he was filled with feelings and instincts that had only one goal, to conquer that foreign heat. Feelings were thrown into him like coal into a fire; want, desire, need, crave, take, these were the only seeming thoughts that coursed through his head.

Hiei now stood directly behind Yabi not an inch away, but still not touching, he breathed in deeply taking in more of her alluring scent that was fueled by her own demon heat. Slowly he began to move around her as though stalking his prey careful to avoid her swaying violet hair as he took in every curve and detail, but even in a mindless state Hiei would not be the first to give in. Though he never touched her physically, the heat from both demons was pressed between them, one pushing against the other, a black flame was licking constantly at the purple/red heat, sending it in slight shivers. Hiei 's eyes began to glow brighter as the black flame grew in triumph that soon it would conquer over the other heat, he looked into her face and watched as the small creases of lost control began forming around her closed eyes. Knowing that she would break any moment Hiei leaned in more bringing his face closer to the curve of where her neck ended and her collarbone began and breathed in deeply, causing the purple/red flames to flutter and just as the black heat was ready to make its final advance, a voice of reason through desperation cut into the heat like a swift breeze.

[_Jaganshi, realize what your are doing now! It must be your choice, is this what you want_?]

What was he doing? Now that he could think, Hiei remembered that he had wanted to help the onna with her pain. He now knew that the only way to do that was to quench the heat within her. '_It must be your choice.'_ she said, did that mean that she would submit to him? '_Is this what you want?'_ she asked, what did he want? He desired power, he needed to be free, he craved to taste all that life had to offer, he wanted to prevail and to take what was won. Was she what he wanted?

[_yes_], was the last word to echo in their minds and finally the last bit of barrier disappeared. Hiei heard a soft musical sigh escape from her mouth as she moved against him and with the surrender of her lips, the black heat leaped forward to claim its victory.

[As their mouths collided and entwined the two demons felt as though their very essences where feeding on each other, fueling even more their inner flames. The rush of heat left Yabi weak in the knees and clinging fiercely to Hiei, trying to force some of her smoldering heat into him. Her breath escaped between their lips making a small gasping pant. The force of her body and heat was enough to nearly make Hiei drop them both into the running water; hasteningly he drove them back into a tree along the riverbank. The slamming of her back into the tree's bark only served to bring the two demons closer, to a point where Yabi had barely enough room for breath. Shaking off Hiei's grip of her hips, Yabi pushed off of the tree to put some space between the two forces behind and in front of her. Hiei growled into her mouth sending shivers down her spine and his eyes flashed deep crimson as he attempted to again trap her against himself and the tree. Quickly Yabi jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist and arms around his neck bringing her head about an inch above his. Unbalanced with the sudden shift of weight Hiei slammed foreword bringing a small grunt of pain from her chest smirking into her mouth, that hadn't left his since they first joined, at her deserving pain. Yabi parted their lips quickly and glared down at the smirking male youkai then quickly bent back down and licked his lips sensually, then bit down harshly on his lower lips with fresh fangs that quickly drew blood. Hiei momentarily stunned felt something wrap around his arms, he grabbed it lightly feeling it soft with fur and traced it slowly back to the onna's lower back, she grew a tail, he could now smell the difference in her scent, a necko in heat. He was jolted from his surprise bye a soft chuckle from her that ended in a purr as she slowly began lapping up his bloodied lip with a ravenous look.

Hiei could handle no more, his dam was broken, his chain snapped, unleashing the beast that bristled at the onna's challenge. Hiei dove his lips onto hers, thrusting her mouth open with his tongue. He would show her, he would teach her, he would make her beg and acknowledge him as superior. She will crave for him and ache to a point she would do anything he asked. The necko would be his woman; he would have it no other way. The taste of his blood in her mouth was intoxicating. He explored every inch of her mouth as his hands ran up and down her now bare thighs that her gown had reveled when her legs had flung around him. After he had tasted all that he could from her mouth, Hiei began working his way down her jaw line and the side of her neck sucking, licking, and nipping at the taste of her. He was mapping and memorizing her body, using her hums of pleasure as a scale for when he reached certain spots. His favorite spot was the one at the base of her neck that made her go limp and tense all at the same time, and the music she made with her mew's of excitement, it took nearly all he had to keep his legs from buckling to the ground.

Soon his trail of kisses led around the collar of her yukata and Hiei decided it was time to be rid of the interfering robe and before either could blink his demonic speed, seeming to have tripled with desperation, had her on the ground with nothing to block his hungry gaze on her body. Hiei took a second to take in the sight of the bared necko below him. Still in shock from the descent and disrobement her eyes were closed with parted lips in a frozen gasp. Her long shimmering violet hair was spread beneath her providing a soft cushion for her milky skin that shone with the moon's light. Hiei could now see the two pure white cat ears that stood proud atop her head and a matching tail that fell gracefully across her stomach and draped down to her thighs making this strong and passionate demoness seem almost fragile. This image of her, that sent a jolt of possessiveness and a need to protect her, would be seared forever into Hiei's mind and with a small growl of anticipation he resumed his exploration of her body with his mouth.

Starting from where he left off at her collar he made his way down to her breasts where he nibbled and sucked. As he came near her nipples her body rose with want but he could tell by her breathing that she was holding back her moans. Just as he was about to claim the hard peaks, Hiei went to the other breast performing the same actions making his necko growl and try to move his head closer to where she wanted him. Hiei smirked and just continued his path down to the valley between them where he kissed down until her hands relaxed in his hair with slight disappointment. With her guard down Hiei pounced on her nipples, sucking and nipping on one as his hand pinched the other, the surprise and pleasure tore the suppressed moan from deep in her throat, satisfied with her sounds Hiei continued down across her torso and stomach. He began rubbing small circles at the junction between her lower back and buttocks sending a tingle up her spine that distracted her from his hand parting her thighs. As he kissed and licked around her navel and down lower he could hear her catch her breath waiting for him to reach her center but instead Hiei began kissing the soft inner parts of her thighs which left her growling and shifting to give him better access. Pleased with her submit Hiei brought his head down to her warmth and placed a chaste kiss at the top of her moist lips on her tiny peeking button. A gasp tore from her throat as a surge of pleasure shot through her body, but she wasn't the only one affected, Hiei's nose was filled with her addicting scent and the need to taste her filled his being. As if starving he began to ravenously kiss and nip at her folds towards the tunnel that led to her delicious center, reaching it Hiei dove in lapping and tasting all he could. Yabi tried to keep from thrashing from the ecstasy that curled her toes as she felt his warm tongue lap in and out of her most intimate of parts. Hiei went faster for he wanted to milk her dry and taste every drop of her sweet honey. Unable to take much more, Yabi screamed his name in her release as she came over and over as Hiei drank from her as though from a fountain.

When his thirst was satisfied, he crawled back over her body and watched her chest as it rose and fell in rhythm of her pants. Her pleasure was enough to settle both their desires, Yabi from fulfillment and Hiei more of pride for his accomplishment. With her breathing slowed Hiei gave her a nip on her bottom lip and instinctively laid his head between her breast and collarbone and his body just to the side of her while still covering her with himself to protect her from the weather and any other danger.

Yabi snuggled closer to him and as exhaustion took her over she managed to say before she slept, " Now we are most certainly even, Jaganshi."

Hiei chuckled tiredly and replied, " I told you not to think me weak, onna. "

And as they both drifted into the soothing satisfaction of their dreams, she managed to whisper the word, "_never"_. ]

Prince Koenma sat in his overwhelmingly large chair behind his ridiculously large desk stamping away at his usual humongous pile of paperwork, his face was puckered into his usual annoyed, bored, and frustrated look, a princes work is never done. He hadn't even been able to celebrate with his detectives after their win at the dark tournament, it's not even been a week and already trouble was brewing. Koenma sighed when he thought of all the work he still had to do and then on top of that deal with the impending dooms. Yes, indeed a Prince of Spirit Worlds work was never done.

"Perhaps a small lunch break will help ease the work, Lord Koenma?"

The small prince jumped and grabbed his chest above his heart as though to stop it from bursting through. Looking up across his desk Koenma saw a small-cloaked figure holding a picnic basket. He glared slightly at the chuckling figure while attempting to steady his breathing.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you."

"You seem to have an affinity with sneaking up on me sir."

"Perhaps, but then again you make it so easy Lord Koenma." He teased.

Fuming a bit Koenma changed he subject, "What is it that I can do for you, Oracle."

"How about we relax and have some lunch?"

"Is that really why you're here?"

"At the moment, yes. Now come, I've made an excellent chicken and cucumber salad that I know you'll love." The figure practically gushed.

Koenma quirked his eyebrow at the very feminine gesture that his guest was making. "Are you alright sir?"

The cloaked figure blinked at him and responded, "Of course. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason sir. Why don't we eat in the conference room there is a big table and no one is there right now." Koenma said quickly.

"Alright then." The figure said softly in suspicion but then quickly turned with a smile, " Just so long as you don't call me 'sir' anymore."

Koenma looked at him a little funny; "My father would punish me to no end if I didn't show our guest their deserved respect, sir."

"I understand, but I don't think he'd like you calling me sir either." The cloaked guest stated with a small chuckle.

"Is there something else you'd like me to address you as?" Koenma asked now really confused.

"My name." He said simply but then at the look of even more confusion on Koenma's face he remembered and laughed. "I'm sorry I completely forgot that you don't know my name yet. Having to remember both directions of time tends to make one forget simple details in the present. In any case, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Yogensha Eien and you may call me Eien in private, Lord Koenma."

"Alright, Eien, but then what should I call you in my fathers presence?"

"Whatever you like, ma'am or Lady Yogensha, just as long as its not sir." Eien lifted off the hood of her cloak to revel that she was in fact a woman; she wore her long pink hair in a braid to the side with two long strands hanging down to the side framed by the small gold circlet on top of her head. Her light pink eyes sparkled with amusement at the pale young prince. "Have no fear Koenma, you had no way of knowing so lets just sit and eat. We can discuss business and formality later." With a grin and a steady stride the now uncloaked Eien strode out into the hall towards the conference room to set up their lunch.

Koenma stood there as her words repeated themselves in his mind while he stared after her. Then his face began swirling in pale and red colors trying to decide if he should be frightened or mortified. Finally landing on a bright pink the prince cleared his throat and swiftly changed into his more adult form then proceeded to go after his lunch.

* * *

**Let me know what you think!**


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